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huawei and apple chose to release their new phones on the same day, and also chose to sell their new phones on the same day.

on september 20, apple's iphone 16 series was officially launched. when the reporter from the paper arrived at the apple retail store on nanjing east road in shanghai, the first batch of users who had made appointments to pick up their products in the store had already lined up indoors. at the apple global harbor store, a large number of users who had made appointments were also waiting at the door of the store to receive their new phones. many consumers said that this year's apple new phone update was not very strong, including the fact that the ai ​​function could not be used immediately. they did not have high expectations, but because of their usage habits, they would still choose apple.

huawei, which chose to confront apple head-on, also officially launched its three-fold screen mobile phone huawei mate xt on the same day, with a starting price of 19,999 yuan. the reservation page showed that more than 6.85 million people had made reservations, but compared to apple's pre-sales, huawei mate xt reservations do not require prepayment of funds, and you need to wait for the official notification of the specific arrival date, or buy it online at 10:08 on the 20th.

this is a "high price" choice question for users, and some netizens are curious about who is buying 20,000 yuan phones? when apple, which has the largest number of high-end users in the world and has a fairly solid base, meets huawei, which has repeatedly used "unique tactics" in recent years to compete for high-end users in the chinese market, how will these two phones stir up the high-end mobile phone market this year?

the lucky "pollen" of the first batch of three-fold screens: not sensitive to price, pursuing a sense of technology

huawei has two direct-sale stores in shanghai, namely the nanjing east road store and the qiantan taikoo li store. at about 8 o'clock in the morning, mr. shi, a shanghai citizen, came to the nanjing east road store. he wanted to buy a three-fold screen mobile phone for his younger son who would take the college entrance examination next year. for this reason, he and his older son, who was already working, divided the work, one bought it online and the other bought it in the store. although the staff had informed him that there was no stock and that no reservations would be accepted on that day, mr. shi still insisted on waiting outside the door, hoping to wait until the press conference in the store was over and then try his luck in the store. "i can't help it. my younger son is a fan of huawei, and i also use a huawei phone."

staff members display the mate xt in a direct-sale store

on the same day, yu chengdong, chairman of huawei terminal bg, appeared at the flagship store on nanjing east road in shanghai to attend the first delivery ceremony of huawei mate xt extraordinary master. actor yan yikuan and well-known makeup artist mao geping took the new phone from yu chengdong.

there was no new phone delivery ceremony at the qiantan taikoo li store, which is more than a dozen kilometers away. huawei mall showed that the online sales were almost sold out in seconds after 10:08. yu chengdong said that the sales were far beyond expectations, and they are currently working overtime to expand production capacity. "it will still take (time) in the short term, please be patient."

huawei did not announce the first-day sales and the first batch of stock. a dealer told the paper that the first batch of huawei mate xt arrived at about 10,000 units, and more will arrive in the future.

huawei nanjing east road store

at huawei's nanjing east road store, the paper reporter met mr. sun, who is also a freelancer like mr. shi. the difference is that mr. sun successfully got the new phone and participated in the first delivery ceremony. mr. sun told the paper that he is also a fan of huawei and bought the black top-of-the-line tri-fold phone. "i have been using huawei since huawei mate 30, and everything in my house is huawei's whole family bucket. my father also likes huawei, and his car is huawei q9."

two other people in the financial industry received new huawei phones. one of them said that he had previously used the huawei x5 folding phone and bought it this time to "keep up with the trend." the other had previously used apple and other brands of phones and was also "trying out" huawei this time.

when talking about the high price of the triple-folding screen, the above people all said that they could accept it. mr. sun said frankly that he was willing to spend more than 20,000 yuan to buy a mobile phone more for the pursuit of technology. "in the past, the iphone was the representative of technology, and now huawei is also the representative of technology. other manufacturers will not be able to make a triple-folding screen in the near future, so this money is worth it."

the financial professional who got the new phone said frankly: "everyone has different incomes. some people like it, and some people don't."

it is worth noting that on that day, the apple retail store "across the street" was bustling with customers. a consumer waiting in line to receive an iphone 16 said that he personally prefers to use apple, and that huawei's 20,000 yuan tri-fold screen phone feels out of reach. "one reason is that i can't get it, and the other is that i think the two-fold is completely enough. it depends on when apple will release the folding screen."

this is not the first time huawei and apple have faced off head-on

the same-day showdown drama has been staged many times between huawei and apple.

on may 7 this year, huawei and apple simultaneously released tablet products. on october 31 last year, huawei and apple also held press conferences on the same day, competing head-on in multiple products such as computers and mobile phones. if we go back in time, the press conferences of the two companies were always very close, sometimes a week apart, sometimes only a day apart.

compared with this year's new mobile phones, the upgrades of apple's iphone 16 series are more reflected in the further enhancement of chips, artificial intelligence and camera performance. however, chinese apple users will have to wait until next year to experience the chinese version of apple smartphones.

for the two different user groups of apple and huawei, fans of each side can give many reasons for choosing their own brand.

at apple's global harbor store, several consumers told the paper reporters that the update of apple's new phones this year was not very significant, and the ai ​​functions could not be used immediately. they did not have high expectations, but because of their usage habits, they would still choose apple.

since apple's iphone has always had a very good software and hardware experience, it is too challenging for straight-screen phones to compete with apple in the high-end market with foldable phones. mobile phone brands including huawei have been using foldable phones as a new form factor to impact the high-end and ultra-high-end markets. huawei is also in a leading position in the field of foldable phones. this time, huawei has come up with a pioneering product form of three-fold phones to impact the ultra-high-end market. yu chengdong said that huawei has been working on this three-fold phone for five years, and it is a "product that everyone can think of but cannot make."

huawei is confident in its products and has many high-end users, so it offers a very high price. the 256gb version is priced at 19,999 yuan, the 512gb version is priced at 21,999 yuan, and the 1tb version is priced at 23,999 yuan. yu chengdong explained that the cost of the three-fold is very high, and the process will continue to be iterated to improve the yield and reduce costs. in the three-fold, huawei used the "tiangong hinge system". yu chengdong said that in the industry, huawei's hinge system was the first to achieve both internal and external folding.

liang zhenpeng, a senior industrial economist, told the paper that although apple and huawei differ in some functions and designs, both are trying their best to meet the needs of high-end users. "it can be said that huawei and apple have a high degree of overlap in their customer base, and competition in the high-end market is becoming increasingly fierce. as a new form of mobile phone, the performance of folding phones in the high-end market remains to be seen. perhaps the competition between the two new phones will increase consumers' willingness and demand to buy, or prompt other mobile phone manufacturers to speed up the development of folding screen phones. however, the technology and cost of folding phones are still limited, and whether they can successfully impact the high-end market in the future remains to be seen."

at apple's sales site, several scalpers told the paper that the market is not good this year, and the highest price increase for the iphone 16 pro max is only between 700 and 800 yuan. near the nanjing east road store, the reporter saw at least five scalpers, "it's a bit difficult this year. gold is a new color and it's selling well, but the price is increased by 400 yuan at most. the 256g one is the best-selling one, and the 1tb one is not wanted and can't be sold."

the reporter found that scalpers all accepted pro max and refused to accept 16 pro. "the market is average this year, and my peers are adding 600 yuan to the price. they make 50 or 100 yuan profit on each phone." a scalper at the entrance of global harbor said that the popular model this year is desert gold. pro max 512g is added 500 yuan to the price and sold for 600 yuan, and 1t is added 700 yuan to the price and sold for 800 yuan.

apple nanjing east road store entrance

huawei's new phone has a higher premium due to "limited shipments". in the eyes of outsiders, this model is likely to become a symbol of huawei's technological strength rather than a major sales driver.

when the reporter was talking with the first batch of huawei owners, a scalper came over to ask the consumer if he was willing to resell the tri-fold screen phone. after asking about the model, he said he could add 15,000 yuan to the price, "i received one today."

previously, the owner of a digital store in shanghai told a reporter from the paper that he had marked the price up by more than 20,000 yuan and had successfully sold one.

when asked whether huawei has a user portrait for pre-ordering the tri-fold screen mobile phone, staff at huawei's nanjing east road store said that there is no such user portrait.

according to iresearch consulting's "2023 china folding screen mobile phone user insight report", from the perspective of the user portrait of horizontal folding screen mobile phones, male users account for a larger proportion, and the age distribution is relatively balanced. the young groups aged 18-29 who love to try new things and the groups aged 30-39 with stable economic income account for a higher proportion; in terms of city and income distribution, most consumers of horizontal folding screen mobile phones live in first-tier and new first-tier cities with relatively superior economic conditions, and more than half of the users have an income level of more than 10,000 yuan.

how to stir up this year's high-end machine market

on september 19, tianfeng international analyst ming-chi kuo released a report on huawei mate xt, showing that the latest supply chain survey pointed out that the 2024 shipment forecast for huawei's three-fold mobile phone mate xt has been raised from 500,000 units to 1 million units, but it should be noted whether the demand can continue after it goes on sale (september 20).

ming-chi kuo lowered the estimated global shipments of foldable phones in 2024 from about 30 million to 15 million, mainly because the software design cannot make good use of the larger screen size and the durability is poor. in addition, the poor profit of foldable phones has also affected the willingness of brand manufacturers to develop and sell foldable phones. currently, no other android brand intends to follow huawei to launch a three-fold phone, and the biggest concern is durability. ming-chi kuo pointed out that whether huawei's strategy of launching a three-fold phone can be effective and sustainable depends on whether the mate xt can solve the pain points of foldable phones mentioned above.

according to a report on iphone 16 released by ming-chi kuo on september 16, the pre-order sales of the iphone 16 series in the first weekend were about 37 million units. this is a year-on-year decrease of 12.7% compared with the first weekend sales of the iphone 15 series last year, among which the first weekend pre-order sales of the pro and pro max models decreased by 27% and 16% respectively compared with the same models of the iphone 15. he believes that by the time apple releases its smart phones in the fourth quarter, coupled with peak season promotions and other means, iphone 16 shipments are expected to improve further, and he believes that apple will adopt a more aggressive product strategy in 2025 to boost demand.

analysts at market research firm techinsights predict that global shipments of the iphone 16 series will reach 73 million units in 2024. among them, the iphone 16 pro max is expected to become the best-selling model in the series, accounting for 35% of total sales.

zhang xiaorong, director of the deep technology research institute, told the paper about the two brands' simultaneous releases: "huawei is competing for fame, while apple is competing for volume. in fact, the fan bases of the two brands are relatively stable. the supply of tri-fold phones is limited, and even if they are all sold out, the impact on the high-end market share will be limited."

zhang xiaorong believes that the main market for high-end mobile phones is still candy-bar phones, and the competition between the high-end version of huawei's new flagship mate 70 and the iphone 16 is more interesting to watch.

in the high-end market, canalys released a report on the global high-end smartphone market (market above us$600) in the second quarter of 2024, in which apple accounted for 62%, a year-on-year increase of 5%; samsung accounted for 22%, a year-on-year increase of 35%; huawei ranked third, accounting for 9%, a year-on-year increase of 80%. in the domestic market, idc data shows that in the first half of 2024, huawei once again became the number one in china's smartphone market with a market share of 17.5%. the growth rate of mobile phone shipments in the first and second quarters was 110% and 50.2% respectively, leading the industry.